The CRCLCL engages a wide range of industry and government partners, fosters collaboration and supports outstanding research that is designed to meet the needs of end-users. The CRCLCL will deliver:
A more efficient and productive built environment sector as a whole;
engaged communities taking action to reduce carbon emissions in their homes, suburbs and cities;
an evidence base for good planning and policy;
large-scale national capability development;
tools, technologies and techniques that will ensure the sector remains globally competitive.
The CRCLCL plans to leave an important legacy in the form of greatly improved national capability for high-quality research, education and training in the built environment sector, and has established Nodes of excellence at five Australian universities in order to achieve this. The CRCLCL’s mission is a vital one: to make low carbon living in Australia a reality. It is on track to achieve its goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 10 mega tonnes by 2020 and delivering economic benefits to the value of $684 million by 2027.
The CRCLCL’s research projects are organized under three programs and eight impact pathways, which together set out a strategy for achieving a low carbon, economically viable built environment. The programmes are as follows:
Integrated Building Systems Developing new low carbon embodied products and services, and finding ways to communicate best practice design through rating tools, standards and display homes;
low Carbon Precincts Creating planning techniques and data for delivering low carbon developments at a precinct level. Communicating best practice in sustainable city planning through exemplar precinct developments and tools;
engaged Communities Capturing a new community appetite for low carbon living. Through research, communicating to business and government the vision of a prosperous, livable and sustainable society.
The integrated pathways are as follows:
Harnessing the Australian Sun There is enough sun landing on our roofs to power our cities. Instead of being exploited, it is currently just overheating buildings and causing large air conditioning loads. The CRCLCL’s research aims to make active solar roofing products the default solution in the built environment;
lowering the Embodied Carbon in Buildings Significant energy and carbon is embodied in conventional building materials. The CRCLCL’s research aims to increase the use of low carbon materials, ensuring they become mainstream;
mainstreaming Low Carbon Buildings The CRCLCL is providing evidence of high performance in low carbon buildings to instill industry and consumer confidence, and drive adoption of low carbon buildings;
designing Integrated Low Carbon Precincts The CRCLCL’s research is helping design low carbon neighborhoods and built environments that support low carbon living. This includes not just individual buildings, but also transport, infrastructure, land use and waste management. Precinct design and assessment tools will drive the necessary functionality, provide data and scientific validation, and encourage broad government and industry acceptance;
evidence Base for Low Carbon Living Policy The CRCLCL is working with all levels of government to explore the social, environmental and financial benefits of low carbon policy actions. Providing evidence of these benefits will be a key factor in enabling government to implement policy change.
enhancing Community Engagement The CRCLCL aims to achieve productive collaboration between developers and communities that stimulates demand for low carbon infrastructure and services. CRCLCL research will develop community engagement/consultation processes and standards that facilitate rich dialogue about community aspirations for low carbon living;
living Laboratories as Low Carbon Lifestyle Narratives The CRCLCL’s living laboratories will help create demand for low carbon living. Australians will adopt a low carbon lifestyle when they have positive experiences of its benefits and when they see others adopting and talking about it;
enhanced Education and Capacity Building It’s essential the CRCLCL leaves a legacy that will help drive the widespread adoption of sustainable living practices over the coming years. To do so, it must inspire the next generation of researchers, built environment specialists and communities through education, training and capacity building initiatives.